Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and 34 other countries formally approved plans Tuesday to create a compensation body to pay for damages to Ukraine caused by the Russian invasion, but questions remain about where the money will come from.

Zelenskyy told leaders gathered in the Dutch city of The Hague that he hopes for strong international support so "any damage caused by the war can be compensated."

Over the course of 2025, a new reality has sunk in for Europe. The United States, long its strongest ally, has chipped away at the European Union's unity, economies, security and even its democracies, setting the backdrop for an EU summit this week at the end of an exceptionally trying year.

After putting an indefinite freeze last week on Russian assets in Europe, EU leaders face a new test of strength at Thursday's summit. Ukraine is in dire financial straits, and they have promised to meet Kyiv's economic and military needs for the next two years, most probably through a new reparations loan.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says proposals negotiated with U.S. officials on a peace deal to end his country's nearly four-year war with Russia could be finalized within days, after which American envoys will present them to the Kremlin before further possible meetings in the United States next weekend.

Zelensky told reporters late Monday that a draft peace plan discussed with the U.S. during talks in Berlin earlier in the day is "very workable." He cautioned, however, that some key issues — notably what happens to Ukrainian territory occupied by invading Russian forces — remain unresolved.

Japan lifted a megaquake advisory for the country's northeastern coast Tuesday, one week after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck off northern Japan that officials said had caused an increased risk of a subsequent major quake.

The lifting means residents in the designated area under the advisory are no longer asked to sleep in their day clothes, with helmets, shoes and grab bags at their bedside in case a magnitude 8 or larger quake hits the area.

The U.S. has agreed to provide unspecified security guarantees to Ukraine as part of a peace deal to end Russia's nearly four-year war, and more talks are likely this weekend, U.S. officials said following the latest discussions with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin.

The officials said Monday talks with President Donald Trump's envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, led to narrowing differences on security guarantees that Kyiv said must be provided, as well as on Moscow's demand that Ukraine concede land in the Donbas region in the country's east.

A mass shooting in which 15 people were killed during a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney's Bondi Beach was "a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State," Australia's federal police commissioner Krissy Barrett said Tuesday.

The suspects were a father and son, aged 50 and 24, authorities have said. The older man, whom state officials named as Sajid Akram, was shot dead. His son was being treated at a hospital.

Heavy combat between Thailand and Cambodia entered a second week on Monday, with Phnom Penh claiming that Thai bombing is hitting deeper into its territory, coming close to shelters for people who had already fled dangerous areas along the border.

According to Cambodia's defense and information ministries, Thai F-16 fighter jets dropped two bombs shortly after 10 a.m. near camps for displaced people in Oddar Meanchey and Siem Reap provinces.

Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy former Hong Kong media mogul and outspoken critic of Beijing, was convicted in a landmark national security trial in the city's court on Monday, which could send him to prison for the rest of his life.

Three government-vetted judges found Lai, 78, guilty of conspiring with others to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiracy to publish seditious articles. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky started a second day of talks with U.S. negotiators in Berlin on Monday, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP, as diplomatic efforts to end the war intensify.

The official told AFP the second day of talks had started, after Zelensky's delegation huddled for more than five hours on Sunday with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and the U.S. president's son-in-law Jared Kushner on ending the conflict unleashed by Russia's 2022 invasion.

The Kremlin on Monday called Kyiv's non-NATO status a "cornerstone" in talks to end the war, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted some of the alliance's members were against his country joining the bloc.

"This issue is one of the cornerstones and requires special discussion," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, including AFP, during a daily briefing.